Magnetic bistability, as manifested in the magnetization of ferromagnetic materials or spin crossover in transition metal complexes, has essentially been restricted to either bulk materials or to very low temperatures. We now present a molecular spin switch that is bistable at room temperature in homogeneous solution. Irradiation of a carefully designed nickel complex with blue-green light (500 nanometers) induces coordination of a tethered pyridine ligand and concomitant electronic rearrangement from a diamagnetic to a paramagnetic state in up to 75% of the ensemble. The process is fully reversible on irradiation with violet-blue light (435 nanometers). No fatigue or degradation is observed after several thousand cycles at room temperature under air. Preliminary data show promise for applications in magnetic resonance imaging.

The remote control of surface properties is one of the key challenges in interfacial systems chemistry. Here, we report the realization of a SURMOF (surface-mounted metal-organic framework)-based hybrid system in which a crucial component can be switched by light. The realization of this two-component system is made possible by installing vertical compositional gradients via liquid-phase epitaxy. After loading the porous coating with guest molecules, its release is initiated by illumination with visible light and monitored by a quartz crystal microbalance.

We present a fully reversible and highly efficient on-off photoswitching of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast with green (500 nm) and violet-blue (435 nm) light. The contrast change is based on intramolecular light-driven coordination-induced spin state switch (LD-CISSS), performed with azopyridine-substituted Ni-porphyrins. The relaxation time of the solvent protons in 3 mM solutions of the azoporphyrins in DMSO was switched between 3.5 and 1.7 s. The relaxivity of the contrast agent changes by a factor of 6.7. No fatigue or side reaction was observed, even after >100,000 switching cycles in air at room temperature. Electron-donating substituents at the pyridine improve the LD-CISSS in two ways: better photostationary states are achieved, and intramolecular binding is enhanced.

Extensive use of quantum chemical calculations has been made to rationally design a molecule whose spin state can be switched reversibly using light of two different wavelengths at room temperature in solution. Spin change is induced by changing the coordination number of a nickel complex. The coordination number in turn is switched using a photochromic ligand that binds in one configuration and dissociates in the other. We demonstrate that successful design relies on a precise geometry fit and delicate electronic tuning. Our designer complex exhibits an extremely high long-term switching stability (more than 20 000 cycles) and a high switching efficiency. The high-spin state is extraordinarily stable with a half-life of 400 days at room temperature. Switching between the dia-and paramagnetic state is achieved with visible light (500 and 430 nm). The compound can also be used as a molecular logic gate with light and pH as input and the magnetic state as non-destructive read-out.

In this article, we use the popular photoswitchable molecule, azobenzene, to demonstrate that the embedding in a nanoporous, crystalline solid enables a precise understanding of light-induced, reversible molecular motion. We investigate two similar azobenzene-containing, pillared-layer metal-organic frameworks (MOFs): Cu2(AzoBPDC)2(BiPy) and Cu2(NDC)2(AzoBiPy). Experimental results from UV-vis spectroscopy and molecular uptake experiments as well as theoretical results based on density-functional theory (DFT) show that in the Cu2(AzoBPDC)2(BiPy) MOF structure, the azobenzene side groups undergo photoisomerization when irradiated with UV or visible light. In a very similar MOF structure, Cu2(NDC)2(AzoBiPy), the experimental studies show an unexpected absence of photoisomerization. The DFT calculations reveal that in both MOFs the initial and final states of the photoswitching process (the trans and the cis conformation) have similar energies, which strongly suggests that the reason for the effective blocking of photoswitching in the AzoBiPy-based MOFs must be related to the switching process itself. More detailed calculations show that in Cu2(NDC)2(AzoBiPy) a naphthalene linker from the molecular framework blocks the photoisomerization trajectory which leads from the trans to the cis conformation. For Cu2(AzoBPDC)2(BiPy), as a result of the different geometry, such a steric hindrance is absent.

We present a non-ionic water-soluble porphyrin that does not exhibit measurable aggregation even at high concentrations in water. The spin state of the corresponding nickel(II) complex changes from completely diamagnetic (low-spin) to paramagnetic (high-spin) upon addition of a strong axial ligand. This leads to a strongly reduced NMR relaxation time of the water protons even at low concentrations of the complex.

We present the first coordination-induced spin-state switching with nickel chlorin and nickel isobacteriochlorin. The spin-state switching was monitored by UV-vis spectroscopy and NMR titration experiments. The association constants (K1 and K2) and thermodynamic parameters (ΔH and ΔS) of the coordination of pyridine were determined. The first X-ray analyses of a paramagnetic nickel chlorin and a nickel isobacteriochlorin provide further information about the structure of the octahedral complexes. Nickel chlorin and even more pronounced nickel isobacteriochlorin exhibit stronger coordination of axial ligands compared to the corresponding nickel porphyrin and thus provide the basis for more efficient spin-switching systems.

We report on as witchable rotaxane molecular shuttle that features ap seudo-meso 2,5-disubstituted pyrrolidine catalytic unit on the axle whose local symmetry is broken according to the position of at hreaded benzylic amide macrocycle.T he macrocycle can be selectively switched (with light in one direction;with catalytic acid in the other) with high fidelity between binding sites located to either side of the pyrrolidine unit. The position of the macrocycle dictates the facial bias of the rotaxane-catalyzed conjugate addition of aldehydes to vinyl sulfones.The pseudo-meso non-interlocked thread does not afford significant selectivity as ac atalyst (2-14 %e e), whereas the rotaxane affords selectivities of up to 40 %e ew ith switching of the position of the macrocycle changing the handedness of the product formed (up to 60 % Dee).